Romney-West, 2012

How perfectly interesting:

Former Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain said Monday that Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) would be an "excellent choice" for Mitt Romney's vice presidential candidate, joining a chorus of conservative Republicans who have tabbed the Tea Party freshman as a potential addition to the ticket.

"He is well-spoken, he is direct, he is from Florida and folks in Florida love him — with Florida being one of those key states in the Fall. But most importantly, Col. Allen West is a dedicated patriot who has served in the military, and who is willing to serve his country again. I think he would be an excellent choice," Cain told conservative talk radio host Steve Gill. 

Congressman Allen West. The man who has told President Obama to “get the hell out of the United States of America.”

Congressman Allen West. The man with questionable tastes in hiring practices.

Conservative talk radio host Joyce Kaufman is stepping down from her new position as chief of staff for incoming Republican Rep. Allen West after her comments may have incited a threat of violence that led to three-hour lock-down at 300 Florida schools yesterday.

Kaufman has come under scrutiny for some incendiary comments. On her Florida radio show Tuesday, Kaufman characterized House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as "garbage," and the Associated Press reports she said at a recent Tea Party rally that if "ballots don't work, bullets will."  

MSNBC's "The Rachel Maddow Show" this week spotlighted the controversy over Kaufman. 

Congressman Allen West. The man who has redefined Islam as a “theocratic political ideology.” It’s not a religion, mind you.

Congressman Allen West. A man who fashions himself a modern-day Harriet Tubman. Leaving the plantation. Via the Underground Railroad.  Take a listen:

 

Congressman Allen West. When administration officials condemned a group of U.S. Marines for urinating on the bodies of dead Taliban fighters, he said the soldiers should be punished but, “As for everyone else, unless you have been shot at by the Taliban, shut your mouth, war is hell."  So much for freedom of speech.

Congressman Allen West.  A man who thinks wearing a hoodie could be interpreted as a security risk.

Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) on Thursday condemned what he called Rep. Bobby Rush’s (D-Ill.) “immature gimmickry” in wearing a hooded sweatshirt on the House floor earlier this week. 

The Tea Party favorite said in wearing the hoodie, Rush could have been someone who “walked off of the street.” 

West said the incident might be funny now, but he speculated that at the time, Capitol Police were likely concerned. 

“Initially, they did not know who it was and they were concerned that someone had just walked off of the street or kind of had broken away from a tour group,” West said on conservative Laura Ingraham’s radio show. 

Try unpacking that one.  

By all accounts Allen West is an accomplished man. A distinguished military career and two graduate degrees. Romney-West. I say, bring it on!  Too bad, it won't happen.

Forget Harvard

Really almost too silly to comment on:

 As you’ve probably heard, Mitt Romney poked fun at President Obama today over his time in the Ivy League. “We have a president, who I think is a nice guy, but he spent too much time at Harvard,” Romney said. 

Romney, apparently, hopes to paint Obama as the one who’s really elitist and out of touch. Yesterday he said Obama has spent too much time on Air Force One. Today’s barb is cut from the same cookie-cutter. 

Of course, using Harvard as an example of this seems questionable. As a number of people were quick to point out, Romney himself spent some time at Harvard, too — in fact, he earned two advanced degrees there. 

A gaffe?  Code talk for saying three years is three-years-too-long for someone of President Obama’s background to have spent at Harvard?

Probably just typical, phoniness.

Don't Know Much About History

O.K. I am a graduate student in the CSU (California State University) system. And yes, it’s a mess. Cal State officials announced last month that they plan to freeze enrollment next spring at most campuses, and wait-list all applications for the following fall, due to budget uncertainty. I am not sure I would encourage my own daughter to attend the University of California (UC) – including UCLA or UC Berkeley.

 But this, is ridiculous:

 

A succinct analysis:

It’s unclear whether Santorum was referring to the University of California system or the California State University system, but it doesn’t matter. Both offer American history courses at all their campuses, with one exception. UCSF doesn’t offer any history courses — because it’s a medical school.  

All 23 CSU campuses offer a variety of American history courses, said CSU spokesman Mike Uhlenkamp. Students are required to take several of those courses or test out of them in order to graduate.  

And the nine undergraduate UC campuses (Berkeley, Irvine, San Diego, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, Davis, Santa Cruz and Santa Barbara) offer the courses and have a similar graduation requirement.  

If Senator Santorum wants to use the example of California to make a point about the disaster that is public college and university education in 2012, he has a lot to work with.

Too bad he blew his chance to make any valid points.

Hats in Church

Well, not exactly hats in church. More like hoodies on the floor of the House.

Hoodies on the House floor are verboten, apparently. Rep. Bobby Rush (D) of Illinois was scolded and escorted from the chamber of the House of Representatives on Wednesday morning, when he attempted to give a speech on the need for a full investigation of the Trayvon Martin shooting while wearing sunglasses and a gray hooded sweat shirt.

“Racial profiling has to stop, Mr. Speaker,” said Representative Rush while doffing his suit jacket to reveal his hoodie garb. “Just because someone wears a hoodie does not make them a hoodlum.

Rush continued to speak while the presiding officer, Rep. Gregg Harper (R) of Mississippi, banged the gavel, ordering him to desist. Eventually someone from the office of the House sergeant-at-arms appeared and escorted Rush, hoodie and all, off the floor.

I am a stickler for protocol of this type. But not this time. I’m with Nancy Pelosi on this one:

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi applauded Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., who was admonished Wednesday for wearing a "hoodie" sweatshirt during a speech in memory of Trayvon Martin, a teenager who was killed in February.

"I think that Bobby Rush deserves a great deal of credit for the courage he had to go to the floor in a hoodie, knowing that he would be told he was out of order," Pelosi told reporters Thursday. "He quickly left the floor, he wasn't contentious about it. But he made his point. He called attention to a situation in this country that needs to be addressed in a way a man in a suit and tie might not be able to do."

If anyone knows some rules are meant to be broken sometimes, it’s Rep. Bobby Rush.

I wonder what the scuttlebutt would have been if he had been allowed to finish up without incident.

But alas.  The Republicans are too clueless to have acted in any other manner.  And certainly not brave enough to have stood up to the political firestorm that would have followed.

The Strange Case of the Hoodie: Personal or Political?

President Obama:

But my main message is to the parents of Trayvon. If I had a son, he would look like Trayvon.

2012-Republican-Presidential-Nominee-Wannabe Newt Gingrich in an all-too-predictable, cynical response: 

What the president said, in a sense, is disgraceful. It’s not a question of who that young man looked like. Any young American of any ethnic background should be safe, period. We should all be horrified no matter what the ethnic background.

Geraldo Rivera, who took a lot of slack for his appearance on Fox News with this one.  The emphasis is mine:

When you see a kid walking down the street, particularly a dark skinned kid like my son Cruz, who I constantly yelled at when he was going out wearing a damn hoodie or those pants around his ankles. Don't let your kid—you know the old Johnny Cash song, don't take your gun to town, son. Leave your gun at home. There is some things that are almost inevitable. I'm not suggesting that Trayvon Martin had any kind of weapon or anything, but he wore an outfit that allowed someone to respond in this irrational, overzealous way and if he had been dressed more appropriately, I think unless it's raining out, or you're at a track meet, leave the hoodie home. Don't let your children go out there.

Well, perhaps not as simple personal or political.  Sometimes the line is finer than I care to admit – no matter what your political persuasion.

Cuba and the Church

Cross-posted at ProgressivePatriotGirl.tumblr.com:

I tend to agree with the Washington Post on this one.  Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to Cuba benefits the Vatican, and Fidel and Raul Castro. The Cuban people, not so much.

When Pope John Paul II visited Cuba in 1998, he called for the island nation “to open to the world and for the world to open to Cuba.

Pope Benedict XVI now will walk in that wider doorway.

The official reason for the trip is pastoral. Just weeks before his 85th birthday, Benedict is mustering his strength to bring encouragement to the Cuban flock after his first stop in Mexico this week.

The pope will bless the patroness of Cuba, La Caridad, the Virgin of Charity of El Cobre, on the 400th anniversary of her statue found floating in the sea.

The article goes on to say how weak churchgoing is in Cuba, despite the fact that an estimated 4 million came to see La Caridad as the statue toured the island in the last 15 months.

Well sure church going is weak in Cuba. Cubans threw the Catholic Church off their backs along with the Spanish priests associated with pre-1898 repressive rule a long, long time before Fidel Castro was even born. Even I regularly burn a candle of La Caridad – and I am not, and have never been Catholic.

Culture and religion are not the same thing. And in the case of the Catholic Church and Cuba, something the Vatican has never quite gotten a hold of.

Etchy-Sketchy

Well, this time former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney really did do something to stimulate the economy. The emphasis is mine:

Mitt Romney probably never wants to see another Etch A Sketch, but investors don't feel that way: The toy that caused a campaign faux pas Wednesday led the stock of its owner, Ohio Art Co., to more than double.

Granted, that’s with thin trading volume on the over-the-counter market. The 141% jump pushed the value up $5.65 to close at $9.65 a share.

What’s bad news for Eric Fehrnstrom -- the Romney senior aide who, on Wednesday, likened his boss’ policy strategy to the Etch A Sketch’s ever-changing chameleon ways, and on CNN no less -- is great news for Ohio Art.

Rachel Maddow may also have added to Ohio Art Co.’s good fortune last night on MSNBC. Too funny.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Mitt Romney won’t lose this election because of this comment – especially since it came from someone in his campaign instead of the horse’s mouth. But this will stick. Four years after the 2008 election we are still talking about John McCain not knowing how many houses he owned.

This, is sort of like, that.